


Theory and practice

by Joewue



Series: Izuku's theory of happiness (and why exactly it doesn't work) [1]
Category: Kagerou Project, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Kagerou Project Fusion, Bedtime Stories, Cute Midoriya Izuku, Fluff, Gen, Good Parent Midoriya Inko, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Canon, Pro Hero Midoriya Hisashi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:41:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24402985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joewue/pseuds/Joewue
Summary: happiness/ˈhapɪnəs/nounthe state of being happy.Midoriya Izuku is full of love, his family is full of dorks and the world they live in is full of hardships. But as long as they're together, they'll be alright.
Relationships: Midoriya Inko & Midoriya Izuku
Series: Izuku's theory of happiness (and why exactly it doesn't work) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1795624
Kudos: 9





	Theory and practice

**Author's Note:**

> Does it make me a shitty writer if I literally only write instead of sleeping? Probably. Do I care though?
> 
> Pffft, of course not.
> 
> This one's going to be a wild ride, because as much as I love both kagepro and bnha, both fandoms are wrecks. I'm not tagging anything before it happens in the story, because it'd be a bunch of spoilers, but if you're familiar with Kagerou Project you probably have a solid idea of what's going to happen.
> 
> Anyway. There will be fluff, as much as it pains me not to write someone suffering. There will be also some heavy shit. A couple of chapters later on will require trigger warnings. Some characters will have their age or appearance altered slightly for story purposes. Everything shall be explained in due time.
> 
> To clarify: in this work Hisashi is a Pro-Hero Viserion and he's a dork who loves his family very much. Because, 1) Plot reasons; 2) I want to give the green bean a biological dad who is not an asshole in any shape or form. Deal with it.
> 
> That being said, I can't promise this story will be updated regularly or frequently, but I will do my best to at least post a chapter or two per month. May the power of coffee and Bloodshot Eyes be with me. Plus ultra!

"So, what story do you want to hear today?"

Inko's smile is a little bit forced, because in all honesty she already knows the answer.

"I want a story about All Might!" he exclaims, as expected.

Inko cannot for the life of her remember the last time he asked her to read him anything else. Every single night her son goes to sleep in a room covered in All Might merch, under All Might themed covers, in an All Might onesie hearing about All Might's adventures. It is not that she is worried about his obsession with heroes just yet, but how he could still enjoy such repetitive routine after so long is positively beyond her.

She, for one, avoids anything and everything hero related outside of her house. And Hizashi's eye recently began to twitch every time he hears the famous catchphrase. After all, there is only so much sugar one person can take before feeling sick.

Nevertheless, Izuku loves the hero. And Inko hates to upset him, but for her own mental health she _needs_ to catch a break. So she tries to think of alternative.

"Sweetie, what about a Viserion story instead? He's great too, you know. And I bet he'd be honored to know we talked about him."

"No!" Izuku shakes his head. "Dad is cool, but he's always telling me about himself, it's so boring!"

_(That cheater!)_

_And why, pray tell, the same logic doesn't apply to the Mr. No. 1 Hero?_

"Then... What about Best Jeanist? Greg Orca? Crimson Riot?"

"Nooo!" he huffs. "Best Jeanist is boring, and Crimson Riot is too old! And it's ' _Gang_ ' Orca, mama, not ' _Greg_ '!"

"Oh, sorry, honey, you know I have trouble remembering all their names..." she smiles apologetically. "But still... Is there anyone _besides_ All Might I can read you about?"

He hums thoughtfully. It's not an outright refusal, so Inko sights in relief. _Too bad you skipped today, Hizashi_ , she thinks smugly, _he's probably not going to agree to something else for another six years now_.

"Oh! Oh! I know! Read me about Sir Nighteye!"

He's practically vibrating from excitement and she can't help but marvel at how much energy can fit into such a small body. But still, _what_?

"Erm, who?"

"Sir Nighteye! Don't you know him?! He's All Might's new sidekick, he never had one before, so he's super cool! I heard he was underground before and that's why nobody heard about him before, but I think it's silly! There's no villains underground, so what would he do there?" Izuku suddenly gasps and jumps in his bed, eyes wide open. "Or is there? Are there villains underground, mama?! Is it their quirks or did they make a tunnel or something?! What if-"

"Izuku!" his mother stops him. "Lay down, it's time to sleep. There are no villains underground, I'm sure it was just a metaphor."

" _Me-ta-for_?" he repeats, confused by a new word. "What's that? Is it a villain?!"

"No, honey, it's not a villain. I'll explain it to you tomorrow, okay? But for now it's your bedtime."

"Okay..." he pouts. "What are you gonna read me then?"

It is a problem. She doesn't have any books about this 'Sir Nighteye' character and if she doesn't come up with something quickly, they'll have to settle for another round of 'All Might's Greatest Adventures volume 4', which is not an option she would personally choose.

"Well, you know... I could tell the story my mother used to tell me when I was your age. It's about a lonely monster who found himself a family. How does that sound?"

"I dunno." Izuku hums again. "Does it have a happy ending?"

"Of course, Izu-kun."

"Okay then."

Oh god she did the impossible. _Hizashi is going to be so jealous!_ Well, that's what he gets for running around late at night instead of being home with his family. Hero or not, he's still a father, after all.

(Oh, who is she kidding, she can't stay mad at him.)

"Alright, Izuku. So... A long, long time ago, before even humans appeared, there was a creature. It was always alone, hiding from the world in the darkest caves, and it never knew anything. It didn't know about the sun or the moon or time or even what it itself was. Until one day it stumbled across the entrance of it's cave and saw the light for the first time. It was so excited to finally see something new that it left it's cave without hesitation to explore the world around it. So, time flew. The creature learned a lot of things: that the grass is green, that spring comes after winter, that fish lives in seas and rivers, that it was in fact a boy, a _he_.

"But mommy, how could he not know he was a boy?" interrupts Izuku. "Didn't his mama ever tell him? Didn't he have a pee-pee?"

"Oh, well, you see. He didn't know what a 'boy' or 'pee-pee' means. He never had a mama to explain it to him."

Her soon looks at her, mortified, and she can see the tears forming in his eyes.

"He didn't have a mama?!"

"No, but! It's okay, sweetie, he was okay! There's a happy ending, I swear!"

"Okay..." he mumbles quietly and swallows, resisting a sob.

"Anyway. He learned a lot of things, but one question of his was never answered."

"What question?"

"' _Who was he?_ ' The creature wondered. And then it came across humans and saw them doing incredible things. Humans were surely going to tell him who he was. Or so he thought. So he made himself look human-like and went to a nearest town."

"But how did he do it? With a quirk? Was his quirk _mo_ \- _sha_ \- changing how he looks?"

"I believe you meant ' _morphing_ ' and ' _shape-shifting_ ', honey. And no, it wasn't his quirk. It was so long ago that nobody back then had a quirk or knew what it was. So everyone was quirkless, including the creature. But he had a nest of snakes instead of hair on his head, and every one of them held a special power in it."

"Like the Medusa?" he questions.

"Yeah, just like Medusa. So, he went into a town. But people there were scared of him and called him a monster. He was angry and disappointed, so he decided to run away from humans and hide forever, living alone in the forest."

"But why were they scared of him?" he sounds hurt. "Wasn't he nice?"

"Sometimes..." Inko bites her lip as she feels her heart breaking a little. "Sometimes people aren't nice to other people without any good reason. It's never their victim's fault and the little monster was innocent."

" _Ino-sent_?"

"' _Innocent_ ' means that he didn't do anything wrong."

"And... Will it ever stop?" Izuku's voice is quiet and unsure, as if he feels guilty even asking the question.

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea, after all. Inko loves that story, but her son is so kind! A part of her admires the way he sympathizes with someone who's struggles he isn't even able to understand just yet, but mostly she just wants to stop making him sad.

"Of course, honey. As I said the story has a happy ending. But if you don't like it I can just read you about All Might instead."

"No!" he protests unexpectedly. "I wanna know how it ended."

"Well then. The monster then went to live deep in the forest. He built himself a house there and lived peacefully without anyone knowing about him. Until one day, a child came into his forest. By pure luck, he found the monster's house and became curious. The monster was afraid of being hurt by a human, so he told the boy to go away and leave him alone. But the boy refused. Day after day, year after year he came back to the monster's house and talked to him, until the monster finally gave in and started to trust him. The boy became the monster's first and closest friend and upon learning that he didn't have any family, the monster welcomed him in his own house and they became brothers."

Izuku smiles at this and Inko counts it as a win. Now, to the best part.

"The boy was small and sickly and monster always worried about him. So he gave him one of his snakes, the snake that made him strong and healthy. They were happy together. But years went by and the boy grew up into a young man and the monster realized that he didn't get any older. After all, he lived much longer than any human ever would."

Her son gasped, tears forming in his eyes.

"But," she hurriedly added. "One of his snakes was sentient - could think for itself - and spoke to the monster. It taught him a way to create a new world just for the two of them. The world without time or bad things, where they both could live forever. So the monster gathered all his powers and did just that. Then he asked his brother if he would like to go there with him. The young man smiled and agreed. So they went there, hand in hand, with smiles on their faces, and they lived happily ever after. The end."

"So the monster wasn't alone anymore? And no one was mean to him?" Izuku smiles hopefully.

"Of course. They were happy and safe, together forever."

"That sounds nice. Can we go there too?"

"Oh, Izuku" she laughs and ruffles his hair. "The point of the story is not that they were happy because they hid from the bad things. It's that they were happy because they were a family. Because only your loved ones can create that special place for you and only you can do it for them. Do you understand?"

"I... think so?" he yawned. "So, I'll be happy if I'll be with my family?"

"Yes, Izu-kun. I promise that both me and daddy will do anything we can to keep you safe and happy forever."

She kissed him on the forehead and switched on his All Might themed nightlight. 

"Now sleep."

She turned the lights off and was already closing the door when she heard her son speaking softly.

"I promise too, mama."

  
...If her concerned husband found her crying a few hours later, it was nothing new for either of them.


End file.
